Adam Driver Photo by Julieta Cervantes

The buzz that is ensuring a pretty much sold-out run centers on the popularity of leading man Adam Driver, who, happily for those paying top dollar, is perfection in the role of Strings. The production also boasts five additional terrific performances, a very creative set design by Walt Spangler, and topnotch direction by Neil Pepe, who keeps things moving like a perfectly timed farce for three delicious hours. That Pepe, Spangler, and three of the cast members are repeating the roles they performed in the original Atlantic Theater Company production in 2016 helps solidify this revival immeasurably, as does Kenneth Lonergan's nigh unto perfect script.

So who is this Strings McCrane, and why do so many who come into contact with him fall under his spell? Likely it is his unforced heart-on-his-sleeve charm that they interpret as empathy but which is simply a conduit for his own self-absorption. It's not so much that he thinks he's God's gift to the world as it is that, at the age of 39 and at the height of his popularity, he finds himself trapped in the rich-and-famous bubble he thought he wanted. As he tells Jimmy (Keith Nobbs), his loyal-as-a-Cocker Spaniel personal assistant and the closest person he has to an actual friend: "You dedicate your life to gettin' people to look at you and tell you how great you are, and Hey presto: you can't get them bastards out of your face."

We first meet up with Strings and his midlife angst in his hotel room in Kansas City, Missouri. The opening scene is a masterwork in and of itself, encapsulating everything we need to know about Strings, so that we can simply sink back and enjoy all that follows, like watching an intricate pattern of dominos as they topple over.

When we encounter Strings, he has just learned that his mother has passed away in his hometown of Beaumont, Tennessee. He is bereft, though not for the reasons you might expect (i.e. loss of a loving and supportive mom). From what we learn of her, she was a tough cookie, outspoken and judgmental. As Strings tells it, she was deeply disappointed in his choice of a lifestyle. She had long wanted him to settle down, marry, and give her more grandkids, like his stepbrother Duke (CJ Wilson, excellent, as are all the cast members).

So what's a fellow to do, especially when his every decision is an act of impulse and whose every whim has been catered to for so many years? His diatribe to Jimmy is just the beginning. His plan, such as it is, is to honor his mother's memory by walking away from the space movie he's in the middle of shooting, canceling a year-long concert tour, moving back to Tennessee, and taking a job working at the local feed store. I mean, who wouldn't?

This much represents part of the story, and we do look forward to seeing where it leads after he enlists his stepbrother into joining the scheme. But equally fascinating is watching Strings interact with the women he encounters in the play: Nancy (Heather Burns), a masseuse he meets in Kansas City; and Essie (Adelaide Clemens), his "second cousin twice removed" he meets at his mother's funeral. Neither woman is a pushover by any means, but Strings strikes all the right notes in his interactions with them, and both of them fall under his spell and into his bed. Sad-eyed seduction at its best.

Kenneth Lonergan is such a master craftsman, so gifted at turning clichés into richly developed characters, that he is able to place all of them into situations in which their every reaction is in keeping with who they are. He mocks no one. He brushes no one off. The often very funny dialog feels natural, as do the characters themselves, the last of whom (in a role nicely performed by Frank Wood) shows up in the play's final scene, which holds open at least the possibility of escape and redemption.

Hold On to Me Darling is, simply put, a mighty fine, thoroughly satisfying play, and it is being given a flawless production at Lucille Lortel Theatre. Less than a year ago, this same Off-Broadway venue was home to the enormously popular and successful Oh, Mary!, which went on to a still-ongoing run on Broadway. No idea if there are plans to move Hold On to Me Darling uptown, but just sayin'!